Docs Who Really Rock: N.E.D.

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N.E.D. JUST RELEASED its first album, a self-titled, six-track debut that showcases the band's range from hard rock to folk. And now it's gearing up for its first concert in D.C. this weekend. Nope, not at 9:30 Club or the Black Cat — on Pennsylvania Avenue at the end of the first-ever Gynecologic Cancer Foundation's Race to End Women's Cancer (It's not too late to register at Gcfrace.com).

Encouraging the finishers of the half-marathon and 5K races and the 1-mile walk certainly makes sense given the band's background: All six members are gynecologic oncologists. The band's name is an acronym for "No Evidence of Disease." "It's what we want to be able to write on a patient's chart," explains male lead singer John Boggess.

They first jammed together two and a half years ago at a medical society conference, and their success planted the idea that they could use their musical talent to bring attention to the diseases their patients struggle with, including cervical, ovarian and uterine cancers.

"The whole world knows about breast cancer, but people don't have that same awareness about gynecologic cancer," Boggess says. "They have a pink ribbon, and now we have a rock band."

But the members of that rock band realize no one will listen to their tunes out of pity, so they've committed themselves to making music anyone can appreciate. None of the lyrics directly references cancer. Instead, they focus on "the human condition," Boggess says. "False Pretenses" asks you to break down the barriers you've put up and reveal how you're really feeling. "Waiting on Time" deals with an old man at the end of his life. "It's not morose or kitschy," he adds.

Music is known to have therapeutic properties, which is why N.E.D.'s drummer, Nimesh Nagarsheth, just authored the book "Music and Cancer: A Prescription for Healing." But it's still stunning to hear Boggess claim that the doctors' work together as a band can help more people than anything they'll do as physicians.

He has a point, though. "Currently in the U.S., one half of women who get cervical cancer have never had a pap smear," he says. "We can design better tests, but if a woman doesn't ever get one, it doesn't matter."

And survival is what really rocks.

Photo courtesy Craig Lacourt